My copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 660,143 entitled "Side By Side Air Feeder For Advancing Stock To A Power Press And The Like" filed Oct. 12, 1984 discloses an improved feeder which serves to impart motion to twin, side-by-side, linearly reciprocable feed slides featuring a mechanical crank mechanism associated with each feed slide. The crank mechanisms cooperate with a pair of power cylinders which are single acting in a stock advancing direction to respectively drive the feed slides and stock clamped thereby into an advanced stroke limit position during each feed stroke. That invention discloses a crank mechanism which serves both to effect harmonic deceleration of the feed slide, and its stock clamped thereby, to bring the same to a sudden non-destructive zero velocity halt in a precisely predetermined position established by a crank mechanism adjustment. Conventional requirements to utilize positive mechanical stops acting directly on the reciprocable feed slides are virtually eliminated, and different embodiments of drive means connected to the crank mechanism are disclosed in the referenced patent application to uniquely effect feed slide actuation.
However, previous unsolved problems remain in the provision of stagger feeder devices which differ from the feeder described. In stagger feeders, the desired path of the stock is at an angle relative to a so-called "Y" axis or overall feeding direction from the feeder to a downstream machine. Known prior art feeders achieve such desired movement (at an angle relative to the Y axis) generally as a result of discrete separate linear movements along the Y axis and also along a so-called "X" axis, which is perpendicular to the Y axis, to thereby effect a resulting angular displacement of the feed slide or "head". Other known feeders achieve the resultant effective angular displacement relative to the Y axis in a serpentine fashion depending on the nature of the actuating components linked to the feed head. The known devices achieving such stagger feeding are relatively complex, require buffering and mechanical stops and are relatively limited in speed to ensure non-destructive performance. Moreover, adjustment of the feed stroke length of such known stagger feed devices has been found to be particularly time consuming and frequently difficult to achieve with precision when strip stock of a different dimension for different size blanks is required to be fed by such stagger feeders to the downstream machine.